This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Post-punk rocker. Pop tunesmith. Country singer. Tin Pan Alley balladeer. Jazzy crooner. Roots-rocker. And now, full-blown classical composer.
Elvis Costello continues his apparent quest to master every musical genre ever invented with Il Sogno, an hour-long orchestral work commissioned by an Italian dance company for a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Needless to say, Pump it Up this ain’t. But it also ain’t half-bad; along with all the lush strings and chirpy horns you’d expect, Costello injects some noirish jazz and uses his keen, playful sense of melody to keep these orchestral manoeuvres interesting even for those of us who don’t know a cimbalom from a cembalo. No, it won’t rock your world. But hey, it could be worse: After all, it’s only a matter of time until he gets around to that polka record.
